Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) Stake Reduced by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. trimmed its stake in Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,494 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Steel Dynamics were worth $3,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cartenna Capital LP grew its position in Steel Dynamics by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Cartenna Capital LP now owns 413,272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,142,000 after purchasing an additional 128,272 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 168,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,198,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Steel Dynamics by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Steel Dynamics by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,628,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $642,033,000 after acquiring an additional 451,630 shares during the period. Finally, Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new stake in Steel Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,157,000. Institutional investors own 82.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp raised Steel Dynamics from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $149.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Steel Dynamics from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Steel Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.44.

Steel Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of STLD opened at $127.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Steel Dynamics, Inc. has a one year low of $103.17 and a one year high of $155.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $124.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.17. The company has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.35.

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.17 billion. Steel Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 8.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Steel Dynamics, Inc. will post 9.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Steel Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from Steel Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Steel Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.41%.

Steel Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, February 24th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 7.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Steel Dynamics

In related news, SVP Glenn Pushis sold 23,649 shares of Steel Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.67, for a total transaction of $3,184,810.83. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 122,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,448,593.80. This trade represents a 16.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Steel Dynamics Company Profile

Steel Dynamics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a steel producer and metal recycler in the United States. The Steel Operations segment offers hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated steel products; parallel flange beams and channel sections, flat bars, large unequal leg angles, and reinforcing steel bars, as well as standard strength carbon, intermediate alloy hardness, and premium grade rail products; engineered special-bar-quality products, merchant-bar-quality products, and other engineered round steel bars; channels, angles, flats, merchant rounds, and reinforcing steel bars; and specialty shapes and light structural steel products.